World

The businesswoman running 1,040 miles across 7 deserts for water

When your cause is the future of humanity, sometimes muscle cramps and sore feet cease to matter so much.

To raise awareness about water scarcity, 45-year-old Mina Guli, the Australian CEO of water conservation charity Thirst, is running 40 marathons across seven deserts in seven weeks. The mammoth task will take her to seven continents, and Mashable Australia spoke with Guli as she prepared to begin running across Australia's Simpson Desert on Friday.

Now based in Beijing, Guli worked in climate change policy at the World Bank, among other places, before focusing on the issue of water scarcity and founding Thirst in 2012. "I had always thought growing up in Australia through years of drought that water was an issue we were solving by putting buckets under the tap," she said.

"What I had not fully understood is that even a simple thing like eating a hamburger is the equivalent of taking a two hour shower."

She discovered the amount of water that goes into things like producing food, energy and clothes far outweighs the water we use in our homes — and that's becoming a big problem. "We have a deadline," she said. "By 2030, there will be a 40% greater demand for water than the supply of water available. We've got 15 years to solve the water problem."

As she pointed out, water crises have been consistently ranked among the most significant issues facing the planet in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Report. The United Nations has also predicted that by 2030, nearly half the world's population will be living "in areas of high water stress."

Mina Guli

Image: Kelvin Trautman

The idea to run an ultra marathon came to her when she decided to do something "crazy" to bring the world's attention to the issue.

Guli is not one to give up in the face of obstacles. Not only did she hate sports as a kid, but after a back injury at the age of 22, she was told she would never run again. If she completes her challenge, she will have run 1,688 kilometres (1,040 miles). Hopefully, teaching the world about water scarcity shouldn't be such hard work in comparison.

So far, she has run the Tabernas Desert in Spain, the Arabian Desert in Jordan and Antarctica. After the Simpson Desert, she will tackle the Karoo Desert in South Africa, the Atacama Desert in Chile, and finally, the Mojave Desert in the U.S.

In Spain, her first run, Guli said the pain was mostly physical. "It was also a massive reality check that this is a long way, and it's going to be really hard," she explained. She found Jordan tough under foot because of the sand, and Antarctica because the snow was unstable and icy to run on.

"As you get physically exhausted, mentally it becomes a greater challenge as well," she added.

At first Guli ran with no music, podcasts or distractions, but the silence in Antarctica got to be too much. "It's so quiet, I've never been anywhere on the planet like it. Where the only sound you can hear is your own heartbeat," she said.

Some friends made her a playlist, but she hopes people following her journey will send her more song suggestions. "Preferably with beats between about 130 and 150 beats a minutes," she added.

Image: Kelvin Trautman

Amazingly, she has not suffered any foot injuries so far thanks to customised shoes. "We've been making bets after each desert how many toenails I'd be down," she said. "So far, three deserts and I've got 10 toenails and zero blisters."

While she runs most of the time, she occasionally decides to walk up steep hills or stop to speak to locals along the way. Sharing her story and discovering others is part of the journey, she said. "If I can't stop and have a cup of tea with a Bedouin family that is living in Jordan, how can I understand what their water challenges are?"

Of course, there have been times when she hasn't wanted to get out of bed in the morning. "You make sure that you keep in mind why you're doing this," she said. "We can't afford to ignore [water scarcity]. It's so important and so urgent, I have to do something."

Guli knows she'd be crazy to attempt a similar challenge in the future, but she wouldn't be surprised if she finds herself starting round two. "I'd like to say I've learnt, but the reality is, I definitely will," she said. "My work is not finished. I want to make saving water famous and I'm not going to stop until I do. If that means more running, that means more running."

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